I'm also looking at building Accessory Dwelling Units, but am thinking of starting with mere garage conversions...this approach seems to be more cheap and simple.

I think I may try an ad in the paper, as I'm not in a neighborhood with a lot of rentals and it is a relatively cheap experiment.

I'm itching to jump into my first real estate investment for rental property. One type of property that strikes me as a little unusual is something like:~800-1100 sq ft2-3 BR, 1-2 bathSmall lot, maybe a detached garag...

Living homes makes great stuff but it's not cheap.

That seems cheap to me, assuming that is labor only.  

These are the Fannie/Freddie backed residential loans, 30 year fixed, which are nice and cheap right now.Second, you can always get prequalified now with multiple lenders to make sure it will work out.

The turnkey provider is taking all the quick and easy profit out of the deal and selling you the long term slow drip profit if there is any.Put all your focus right now in learning how to find cheap properties.  

Are they expecting full color brochures, Do they expect me to do up a full presentation, are they looking for me to give advice on staging and recommend my handyman out for some cheap adjustments?

There is a difference between cheap and cost effective.Sorry, but not using a PM is like stepping over a dollar to pick up a dime.

They should have a higher psi rating then the cheap ones on Amazon.